List of chief ministers of Kerala

Chief Minister of Kerala
Chief Minister of Kerala
	Seal of the Government of Kerala
	Incumbent; Pinarayi Vijayan; since 25 May 2016
Style	The Honourable
Status	Head of Government
Member of	Kerala Legislature (Assembly; Cabinet)
Residence	Cliff House, Thiruvananthapuram
Seat	Kerala Government Secretariat
Appointer	Governor of Kerala
Term length	At the Pleasure of the Governor of Kerala
Precursor	Prime Minister of Travancore; Prime Minister of Kingdom of Cochin; Chief Minister of Madras; Chief Ministers of Travancore-Cochin
Inaugural holder	E. M. S. Namboodiripad (1957–1959)
Formation	5 April 1957; 67 years ago
Website	CMO Kerala

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File:Cliff House Trivandrum.jpg

A 15,000 sq. ft building on 4.5 acres of land, Cliff House in Thiruvananthapuram is the official residence of the Chief Minister of Kerala.

The Chief Minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Kerala state of India. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Kerala Legislative Assembly, the state's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given that he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.^[2]

Following India's independence from the British Raj in 1947, the states' monarchs of Travancore and Cochin instituted a measure of representative government, headed by a Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers. On 1 July 1949 Travancore and Cochin were merged to form Travancore-Cochin state. The Malabar District and Kasaragod region of South Canara, which together constitute more than half of present state of Kerala, had their representatives in the Madras Legislative Assembly.

On 1 November 1956, the States Reorganisation Act redrew India's map along linguistic lines, and the present-day state of Kerala was born, consisting solely of Malayalam-speaking regions, by merging Cochin, Malabar, and Travancore regions, and the Kasaragod region of South Canara.^[3] The first assembly election in Kerala state was held in February–March 1957.^[3] The first Kerala Legislative Assembly was formed on 5 April 1957. The Assembly had 127 members including a nominated member.^[3] Since then, 12 people have served as the Chief Minister of Kerala. The first was E. M. S. Namboodiripad of the Communist Party of India, whose tenure was cut short by the imposition of President's rule. Kerala has come under President's rule for four years over seven terms, the last of them in 1982. Since then the office has alternated between leaders of the Indian National Congress and of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The latter party's Pinarayi Vijayan is the incumbent chief minister; his Left Democratic Front government has been in office since 25 May 2016.

Key

Communist Party of India

Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Indian National Congress

Indian Union Muslim League

Praja Socialist Party

N/A (President's rule)

№: Incumbent number
^† Assassinated or died in office
^§ Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term
^RES Resigned
^NC Resigned following a no-confidence motion

Precursors

Prime Ministers of Travancore (1948-49)

No.^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Name	Portrait	Term of Office			Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Monarch)
No.^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Tenure	Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Monarch)
1	Pattom Thanu Pillai		24 March 1948	17 October 1948	210 days	Indian National Congress	Representative Body (1948–49)	Sir Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, Maharaja of Travancore
2	Paravoor T. K. Narayana Pillai		22 October 1948	1 July 1949	253 days	Indian National Congress	Representative Body (1948–49)

Prime Ministers of Cochin (1947-1949)

No.^{[lower-alpha 2]}	Name	Portrait	Term of Office			Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Monarch)
No.^{[lower-alpha 2]}	Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Tenure	Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Monarch)
1	Panampilly Govinda Menon		14 August 1947	22 October 1947	51 days	Independent	Sixth Council (1945–48)	Kerala Varma VII, Maharaja of Cochin
2	T. K. Nair		27 October 1947	20 September 1948	334 days		Sixth Council (1945–48)
3	E. Ikkanda Warrier		20 September 1948	30 June 1949	283 days		Legislative Assembly (1948–49)

Chief Ministers of Madras (1947-1956)

More than half of the present-day state of Kerala was included in the districts of Malabar and South Canara in the erstwhile state of Madras until the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.^[3] These regions had their representatives in the legislative assembly of Madras.^[3]

No.^{[lower-alpha 3]}	Name	Portrait	Term of Office			Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Governor)
No.^{[lower-alpha 3]}	Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Tenure	Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Governor)
1	O. P. Ramaswamy Reddiyar		23 March 1947^[4]	6 April 1949^[4]	2 years, 14 days	Indian National Congress	1946 Legislative Assembly	Governor
2	P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja		6 April 1949	9 April 1952	3 years, 3 days		1946 Legislative Assembly
3	C. Rajagopalachari		10 April 1952	13 April 1954	2 years, 3 days		1952 Legislative Assembly
4	K. Kamaraj		13 April 1954	31 October 1956	2 years, 201 days		1952 Legislative Assembly

Chief Ministers of Travancore-Cochin (1949-1956)

After India's independence in 1947, Travancore and Cochin were merged to form Travancore-Cochin on 1 July 1949. On 1 January 1950, Travancore-Cochin was recognised as a state.

No.^{[lower-alpha 4]}	Name	Portrait	Term of Office			Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Rajpramukh)
No.^{[lower-alpha 4]}	Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Tenure	Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Rajpramukh)
1	Paravoor T. K. Narayana Pillai		1 July 1949	1 March 1951	1 year, 243 days	Indian National Congress	1st Assembly (1949–51)	Sir Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, Maharaja of Travancore
2	C. Kesavan		3 March 1951	12 March 1952	1 year, 11 days		1st Assembly (1949–51)
3	Anaparambil Joseph John		12 March 1952	16 March 1954	2 years, 4 days		2nd Assembly (1952–53) (1951 election)
4	Pattom Thanu Pillai		16 March 1954	10 February 1955	331 days	Praja Socialist Party	3rd Assembly (1954–56) (1954 election)
5	Panampilly Govinda Menon		10 February 1955	23 March 1956	1 year, 42 days	Indian National Congress	3rd Assembly (1954–56) (1954 election)
-	Vacant^{[lower-alpha 5]} (President's rule)		23 March 1956	31 October 1956	222 days	N/A	Dissolved	N/A

List of Chief Ministers of Kerala

The Government of India's 1 November 1956 States Reorganisation Act inaugurated the new Kerala state, incorporating Malabar District, Travancore-Cochin (excluding 4 southern taluks and Sengottai Taluk which were merged with Tamil Nadu), and the Kasaragod taluk of South Kanara district. A new Legislative Assembly was also created, for which elections were held in 1957.

Chief Ministers of Kerala
No	Name (birth-death)	Portrait	Constituency	Term of office			Party (Alliance)	Assembly
No	Name (birth-death)	Portrait	Constituency	Took office	Left office	Duration	Party (Alliance)	Assembly
–	Vacant^{[lower-alpha 5]} (President's rule)		N/A	1 November 1956	5 April 1957	155 days	N/A	Dissolved
1	Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad (1909-1998)		Nileshwaram	5 April 1957	31 July 1959	2 years, 117 days	Communist Party of India	1st Assembly (1957–59) (1957 election)
–	Vacant^{[lower-alpha 5]} (President's rule)		N/A	31 July 1959	22 February 1960	206 days	N/A	Dissolved
2	Pattom Thanu Pillai (1885-1970)		Trivandrum II	22 February 1960	26 September 1962	2 years, 216 days	Praja Socialist Party	2nd Assembly (1960–64) (1960 election)
3	Raman Sankar (1909-1972)		Cannanore I	26 September 1962	10 September 1964	1 year, 350 days	Indian National Congress	2nd Assembly (1960–64) (1960 election)
–	Vacant^{[lower-alpha 5]} (President's rule)		N/A	10 September 1964	25 March 1965	2 years, 177 days	N/A	Dissolved
–	Vacant^{[lower-alpha 5]} (President's rule)		N/A	25 March 1965	6 March 1967	2 years, 177 days	N/A	Dissolved (1965 election)^{[lower-alpha 6]}
(1)	Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad (1909-1998)		Pattambi	6 March 1967	1 November 1969	2 years, 240 days; (total 4 years, 357 days)	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Saptakakshi Munnani)	3rd Assembly (1967–70) (1967 election)
4	Chelat Achutha Menon (1913-1991)		Kottarakkara	1 November 1969	3 August 1970	275 days	Communist Party of India	3rd Assembly (1967–70) (1967 election)
–	Vacant^{[lower-alpha 5]} (President's rule)		N/A	4 August 1970	3 October 1970	60 days	N/A	Dissolved
(4)	Chelat Achutha Menon (1913-1991)		Kodakara	4 October 1970	25 March 1977	6 years, 172 days; (total 7 years, 80 days)	Communist Party of India (United Front)	4th Assembly (1970–77) (1970 election)
5	Kannoth Karunakaran (1918-2010)		Mala	25 March 1977	26 April 1977	32 days	Indian National Congress (United Front)	5th Assembly (1977–79) (1977 election)
6	Arackaparambil Kurien Antony (born 1940)		Kazhakkuttom	27 April 1977	28 October 1978	1 year, 184 days	Indian National Congress (United Front)
7	Padayatt Kesavapillai Vasudevan Nair (1926-2005)		Alleppey	29 October 1978	11 October 1979	347 days	Communist Party of India (United Front)
8	Cheriyan Kandi Muhammad Koya (1927-1983)		Malappuram	12 October 1979	4 December 1979	53 days	Indian Union Muslim League (United Front)
–	Vacant^{[lower-alpha 5]} (President's rule)		N/A	5 December 1979	25 January 1980	51 days	N/A	Dissolved
9	Erambala Krishnan Nayanar (1919-2004)		Malampuzha	25 January 1980	20 October 1981	1 year, 268 days	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Left Democratic Front)	6th Assembly (1980–82) (1980 election)
–	Vacant^{[lower-alpha 5]} (President's rule)		N/A	21 October 1981	28 December 1981	68 days	N/A
(5)	Kannoth Karunakaran (1918-2010)		Mala	28 December 1981	17 March 1982	79 days	Indian National Congress (United Democratic Front)
–	Vacant^{[lower-alpha 5]} (President's rule)		N/A	17 March 1982	23 May 1982	67 days	N/A	Dissolved
(5)	Kannoth Karunakaran (1918-2010)		Mala	24 May 1982	25 March 1987	4 years, 305 days	Indian National Congress (United Democratic Front)	7th Assembly (1982–87) (1982 election)
(9)	Erambala Krishnan Nayanar (1919-2004)		Trikaripur	26 March 1987	23 June 1991	4 years, 89 days	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Left Democratic Front)	8th Assembly (1987–91) (1987 election)
(5)	Kannoth Karunakaran (1918-2010)		Mala	24 June 1991	21 March 1995	3 years, 270 days; (total 8 years, 315 days)	Indian National Congress (United Democratic Front)	9th Assembly (1991–96) (1991 election)
(6)	Arackaparambil Kurien Antony (born 1940)		Thirurangadi	22 March 1995	19 May 1996	1 year, 58 days	Indian National Congress (United Democratic Front)	9th Assembly (1991–96) (1991 election)
(9)	Erambala Krishnan Nayanar (1919-2004)		Thalassery	20 May 1996	16 May 2001	4 years, 361 days; (total 10 years, 353 days)	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Left Democratic Front)	10th Assembly (1996–2001) (1996 election)
(6)	Arackaparambil Kurien Antony (born 1940)		Cherthala	17 May 2001	30 August 2004	3 years, 105 days; (total 5 years, 347 days)	Indian National Congress (United Democratic Front)	11th Assembly (2001–06) (2001 election)
10	Oommen Chandy (born 1943)		Puthuppally	31 August 2004	17 May 2006	1 year, 259 days	Indian National Congress (United Democratic Front)	11th Assembly (2001–06) (2001 election)
11	Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan (born 1923)	File:1603200170 v-s-achuthanandan.jpg	Malampuzha	18 May 2006	17 May 2011	4 years, 364 days	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Left Democratic Front)	12th Assembly (2006–11) (2006 election)
(10)	Oommen Chandy (born 1943)		Puthuppally	18 May 2011	24 May 2016	5 years, 6 days; (total 6 years, 256 days)	Indian National Congress (United Democratic Front)	13th Assembly (2011–16) (2011 election)
12	Pinarayi Vijayan (born 1945)		Dharmadam	25 May 2016	19 May 2021	7 years, 350 days	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Left Democratic Front)	14th Assembly (2016–21) (2016 election)
12	Pinarayi Vijayan (born 1945)		Dharmadam	20 May 2021	Incumbent	7 years, 350 days	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Left Democratic Front)	15th Assembly (2021- ) (2021 election)

Statistics

List of Chief Ministers by length of term

No.	Name	Party	Length of term
No.	Name	Party	Longest continuous term	Total years of premiership
1	E. K. Nayanar	CPI(M)	4 years, 361 days	10 years, 353 days
2	K. Karunakaran	INC	4 years, 305 days	8 years, 315 days
3	C. Achutha Menon	CPI	6 years, 172 days	7 years, 80 days
4	Oommen Chandy	INC	5 years, 6 days	6 years, 256 days
5	A. K. Antony	INC	3 years, 105 days	5 years, 347 days
6	Pinarayi Vijayan	CPI(M)	7 years, 350 days	7 years, 350 days
7	V. S. Achuthanandan	CPI(M)	4 years, 364 days	4 years, 364 days
8	E. M. S. Namboodiripad	CPI(M)/CPI	2 years 240 days	4 years 357 days
9	Pattom A. Thanu Pillai	PSP	2 years 216 days	2 years 216 days
10	R. Sankar	INC	1 year 350 days	1 year 350 days
11	P. K. Vasudevan Nair	CPI	347 days	347 days
12	C. H. Mohammed Koya	IUML	53 days	53 days

Timeline

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 id:ium    value:rgb(0.133,0.545,0.133) legend: IUML
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Define $today = 09/05/2024

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1956 till:$today TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMinor = gridcolor:gray2 unit:year increment:1 start:1956 ScaleMajor = gridcolor:gray1 unit:year increment:5 start:1956

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from: 05/04/1957 till: 31/07/1959 color:cpi text:"E. M. S. Namboodiripad" fontsize:10
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from: 22/02/1960 till: 26/09/1962 color:psp text:"Pattom Thanu Pillai" fontsize:10
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from: 04/10/1970 till: 25/03/1977 color:cpi text:"C. Achutha Menon" fontsize:10
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from: 25/03/1977 till: 26/04/1977 color:inc text:"K. Karunakaran" fontsize:10
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from: 24/05/1982 till: 25/03/1987 color:inc text:"K. Karunakaran" fontsize:10
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from: 17/05/2001 till: 30/08/2004 color:inc text:"A. K. Antony" fontsize:10
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from: 12/10/1979 till: 04/12/1979 color:ium text:"C. K. Mohammed Koya" fontsize:10
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from: 25/01/1980 till: 20/10/1981 color:cpm text:"E. K. Nayanar" fontsize:10 
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from: 26/03/1987 till: 23/06/1991 color:cpm text:"E. K. Nayanar" fontsize:10
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from: 31/08/2004 till: 17/05/2006 color:inc text:"Oommen Chandy" fontsize:10
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from: 18/05/2011 till: 24/05/2016 color:inc text:"Oommen Chandy" fontsize:10
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from: 18/05/2006 till: 17/05/2011 color:cpm text:"V. S. Achuthanandan" fontsize:10
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from: 25/05/2016 till: $today color:cpm text:"Pinarayi Vijayan" fontsize:10

</timeline>

Political parties by total time-span of their member holding CMO (9 May 2024)

No.	Political party	Number of Chief ministers	Total days of holding CMO
1	CPI(M)	4	9983 days
2	INC	4	8,592 days
3	CPI	3	3,558 days
4	PSP	1	946 days
5	IUML	1	53 days

Living former chief ministers

As of 9 May 2024, there are three living former chief ministers of Kerala:

Living former chief ministers
A. K. Antony
(1977–78, 1995–96, 2001–2004)
(1940-12-28) 28 December 1940 (age 83)
Oommen Chandy
(2004–2006, 2011–2016)
(1943-10-31) 31 October 1943 (age 80)
V. S. Achuthanandan
(2006–2011)
(1923-10-20) 20 October 1923 (age 100)

The most recent death of a former chief minister was that of K. Karunakaran on 23 December 2010, aged 92.^[6]

Notes

Footnotes

↑ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
↑ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
↑ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
↑ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 ^5.4 ^5.5 ^5.6 ^5.7 When President's rule is in force in a state, its council of ministers stands dissolved. The office of chief minister thus lies vacant. At times, the legislative assembly also stands dissolved.^[5]
↑ As the 1965 election did not deliver a clear mandate in favour of any party or coalition, no assembly was convened, and President's rule was re-imposed.

References

↑ "Article 164 in constitution of India".
↑ Durga Das Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India. 1960. 20th Edition, 2011 Reprint. pp. 241, 245. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. ISBN 978-81-8038-559-9. Note: although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Kerala as well.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 Sreedhara Menon, A. (January 2007). Kerala Charitram (2007 ed.). Kottayam: DC Books. ISBN 978-81-264-1588-5.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Express News Service (25 January 2018). "Tamil Nadu's first CM Omandur P Ramaswamy Reddiyar's birth anniversary to be celebrated on February 1". The New Indian Express.
↑ Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005.
↑ Joe A Scaria (23 December 2010). "Karunakaran passes away, bringing curtains down on era in Kerala politics". The Economic Times. Retrieved 20 May 2021.

External links

Official website of Chief Minister of Kerala

[4] A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.

[5] A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.

[6] A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.

[8] A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.

[PR-10] 5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 ^5.4 ^5.5 ^5.6 ^5.7 When President's rule is in force in a state, its council of ministers stands dissolved. The office of chief minister thus lies vacant. At times, the legislative assembly also stands dissolved.^[5]

[11] As the 1965 election did not deliver a clear mandate in favour of any party or coalition, no assembly was convened, and President's rule was re-imposed.

[Indiakanoon.org-1] "Article 164 in constitution of India".

[2] Durga Das Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India. 1960. 20th Edition, 2011 Reprint. pp. 241, 245. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. ISBN 978-81-8038-559-9. Note: although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Kerala as well.

[askh-3] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 Sreedhara Menon, A. (January 2007). Kerala Charitram (2007 ed.). Kottayam: DC Books. ISBN 978-81-264-1588-5.

[m_1-7] 4.0 ^4.1 Express News Service (25 January 2018). "Tamil Nadu's first CM Omandur P Ramaswamy Reddiyar's birth anniversary to be celebrated on February 1". The New Indian Express.

[9] Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005.

[12] Joe A Scaria (23 December 2010). "Karunakaran passes away, bringing curtains down on era in Kerala politics". The Economic Times. Retrieved 20 May 2021.

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